5 Ways To Switch Up Your Typical Round

There’s nothing better than strolling up to the course early in the morning and seeing your buddies warming up near the first tee box. But after years of playing the same game on the same courses, you may not be as excited as you used to be for your typical round of golf. Along with Worldwide Virtual Golf, here are some ways to switch things up and make your rounds feel fresh and exciting!

Worldwide Virtual Golf

RAISE THE STAKES BY PLAYING IN GLOBAL TOURNAMENTS

You couldn’t expect us to not brag about ourselves, could you? After all, WorldwideVirtualGolf.com is all about giving golf tournaments a 21st century upgrade. Our site gives you the power to compete head to head against golfers from anywhere in the world, all from just your local course! Every time you head out for a round, you could be competing against friends in different states, or golfers in different countries. This is not a video game; Worldwide Virtual Golf is about real courses, real tournaments, and golfers’ raw skills. The WVG Handicap Algorithm factors out course difficulty so that everyone is competing on a level playing field, no matter where they play.

The site offers three types of tournaments to play in, as well as the ability to organize your friends into golf groups, making it super easy to create tournaments and invite everyone you’d like. Over time, the site will track your score, tournament, and course stats with personalized graphs, giving you an easy way to see how well you’ve been golfing over the past year. Head over to WorldwideVirtualGolf.com to sign up for free.

Bingo, Bango, Bongo

A DIFFERENT WAY TO SCORE

This classic game turns golf’s scoring system on its head! Instead of competing against each other based on lowest stroke score, each player attempts to win a Bingo, a Bango, or a Bongo on each hole. The goals are pretty simple: you win a Bingo by being the first on the green, a Bango for being closest to the pin once everyone is on the green, and a Bongo for being the first one to hole. Each Bingo, Bango, or Bongo is worth one point, and the player with the most points at the end wins. Obviously, your group has to stick to traditional golf rules and let the player furthest from the hole go first for the game to work fairly. The best part is, just like Worldwide Virtual Golf, you can play Bingo, Bango, Bongo while simultaneously keeping a normal golf score for yourself. Two games in one!

Bloodsome Scramble

EVERY SHOT IS A CHALLENGE

This one is a tougher and more challenging variation of the traditional Scramble. Like the original version, each player tees off normally at each hole, but instead of everyone hitting their following shots from the best ball lie, everyone has to play from the worst ball lie. For three or fewer players, determining which shot was the worst shot is up to you guys, but don’t argue too long, as this game inherently makes your round longer. With a foursome, you can divide yourselves into two teams and allow the opposing team to choose which of your shots are the worst. We definitely wouldn’t recommend playing this game with a beginner …

Scottish Roulette

RANDOMIZE YOUR CLUBS

This twist on stroke play will guarantee you have one of the craziest rounds of your life! Each player tee’s off with whatever club they want, but after that, the club used for the rest of the hole is chosen by random chance. You can choose whatever method of randomization you want, but downloading a “decision maker” app is probably easiest (we recommend Last Piece for iOS, which is free).

Enter in any or all of the clubs in your bag into the options in the app before your round starts, except the drivers. On each hole, tee off with the driver and then spin the selection wheel for each player to see what club they’ll be challenged with for the rest of the hole (yes, even on the greens!). Players could end up being stuck with a 9 Iron from 200 yards out, or a 3 wood from just 20 yards, but that’s what makes this game so entertaining and challenging! If one shot seems impossible with a specific club (i.e. you’re stuck in a sand trap with a 3 wood), you can agree to swap clubs with another player in your group for one stroke each. You can’t swap with Friend 1 for one stroke and then swap with Friend 2 for the next stroke, though; just one swap per hole. The other player has to agree because they’ll be stuck with your club for one stroke as well!

Since this is definitely the most frustration-inducing game on the list, we recommend that your group enjoys at least a couple of beers before the match.

GolfMatch

CONNECT YOUR GOLFING WORLD

How many times have you made a new friend on the golf course? Probably more than a few, as golf offers one of the best way to get to know someone. The simplest way to change up your round is to play with new people, and there’s no better app for that than GolfMatch. The app aims to introduce you to golfers who share your interests, so you’ll always have a good time on the course.

No more playing alone or being randomly paired with people twice your age, GolfMatch makes finding a fun partner or group as easy as pie! It’s also got some cool social media aspects to it, like picture sharing and liking, messaging, and news feeds. With GolfMatch you’ll always have an interesting round that you can share with golfers from around the world, download it for free!